2026 Future Trailblazer Fundraiser Brunch
Empowering the next generation of leaders through education, opportunity, and community investment.
Your support fuels dreams and transforms lives, whether through donations, sponsorships, or community partnerships. Together, we can create a legacy of leadership, education, and empowerment in San Antonio.
2026 Annual Fundraiser Brunch –
“Owning Your Story. Empower Our Community”
🗓️ Thursday, September 24, 2026
🕔 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
📍 Sol Cypress Hotel, 103 9th Street, SAT 78215
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Meet voices that reflect our story. Dr. Lorena “Lorraine” Pulido (Communications Director, SAISD) and Janie Martinez Gonzalez (Owner & CEO, Webhead) are living proof that where you start doesn’t define where you go.
They’ve navigated obstacles, built careers, and now they’re here to inspire the next generation of trailblazers.
Hear their journeys. Own yours.
Dr. Lorena “Lorraine” Pulido
Communications Director, SAISD
Dr. Lorena “Lorraine” Pulido contributes her experience, expertise, heart, and soul to the causes she champions, including education, economic development, and transportation.
She is the Communications Director for San Antonio Independent School District. She has 30 years of experience in the communications industry, previously serving as public relations manager for VIA Metropolitan Transit and the City of San Antonio. She was elected the first female and first Latina chairperson to lead the Brooks Development Authority Board of Directors, and as a trustee for Alamo Colleges District for District 4.
She advocates for all students, especially for students who juggle both parenthood and academics. She was a teen mom who took her daughter with her to the University of Pennsylvania where she received her B.A. Later she earned an M.S. from the Columbia University School of Journalism and a Ph.D. from Our Lady of the Lake University. She is an award-winning adjunct professor at Texas A&M University – San Antonio and has taught hundreds of students in her 24 years of teaching at various colleges.
She was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame in 2023, and the Harlandale Independent School District Hall of Fame in 2021.
Janie Martinez Gonzalez
Owner & CEO, Webhead
Entrepreneur and businesswoman Janie Martinez Gonzalez founded and built one of the first Latina CEO web development companies in Texas on the advent of World Wide Web / DOTCOM in the early 1990s, Webhead, with vision, grit and technological innovation.
Today Janie is a well-respected technologist, philanthropist and industry influencer with twenty-five (25) years of professional executive experience. Her company Webhead is a market leader in Web, Business Intelligence and IT Security. She understood early on her success depended primarily on her ability to create opportunities for herself and the company. A natural observer, Janie learned to identify trends and discerned patterns, styles and results. Janie’s leadership translates to one who adapts and creates a legacy others may remember.
She is passionate and committed to propelling individuals and communities in need and a firm believer in higher education and careers in STEAM. Janie supports initiatives designed to propel minorities from low income areas, spur economic opportunities, growth to transform and sustain communities. Janie is the newest CPS Energy trustee, the first female Hispanic to represent the Southwest quadrant. She also serves on the Boards of the Alamo Community Colleges District Foundation, Southside First Economic Development Council, Greater Chamber of San Antonio, Texas AM San Antonio Foundation and Smithsonian Latino Center.
In 2019, Janie was featured in John Davidson’s, Women Who Tech Are Dangerous: Portraits and Stories in the Age of #MeToo. Her other achievements have also been profiled in such media as Medium.Com, San Antonio Magazine, Inc., Hispanic Business Magazine, Texas Monthly Biz, Vanidades Magazine, and Rivard Report. She is recognized nationally and regionally.
OUR SIGNATURE FUTURE TRAILBLAZERS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS
Mayor Emeritus Lila Cockrell Scholarship
The Mayor Emeritus Lila Cockrell Scholarship, launched in 2019 with Alamo Colleges Foundation, supports full‑time students working toward associate degrees or certificates.
Rosemary Kowalski Scholarship
The Rosemary Kowalski Scholarship, established in 2023 in partnership with Texas A&M University–San Antonio, provides four-year degree support for students seeking a broader academic path.